Museological Framings of Islam in Europe

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the evocation of the sacred in the realm of material heritage practice, drawing on the creation of Freedom Park, a monumental, state-driven post-apartheid heritage project, as a case of heritage formation. Heritage formation refers to the casting of material cultural forms as heritage through sacralizing practices that set these objects apart at the center of social relations and their maintenance as powerful registers of the past for the “hailing” of collective identities. Specifically, it shows how southern African indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and religious concepts were appropriated, translated, and employed in the formation of three material elements at Freedom Park: the//hapo, or museum, as recounting a cosmogony of nation, the Wall of Names as generating a transcendent ancestry, and the Isivivane as focalizing a national sacred center. Overall, it serves to expand our understanding of the dynamics of heritage production in a transforming South Africa, the dynamic power and appeal of heritage as sacralized material culture, and the significance of a critical religious studies approach for interpreting the dynamism of contemporary heritage practice.     

讲故事的空间——南非种族隔离博物馆案例分析

南非种族隔离博物馆按照线性的空间流线对南非的种族隔离历史进行了介绍与反思，建筑师本着对历史的理解与尊重，探索了空间处理和材料应用的手法，强调了建筑与城市文脉的联系。     

旅居体验下的世界文化遗产地社区景观 风貌研究——以厦门鼓浪屿为例

为满足遗产地文化保护、社区生活质量提升与景区旅游发展等多维需求,传承和完善鼓浪屿遗产地社区景观风貌成为当下焦点。遵循"限定范围、分类人群、挖掘风貌体验需求与兴趣点、总结体验冲突点"的鼓浪屿遗产地社区景观风貌管理研究思路,首先以游客、本岛居民为研究对象,利用线下问卷和社交网络文本进行调研,挖掘人们对于鼓浪屿景观风貌现状的体验需求;其次,开展鼓浪屿POI、人流运动定位和空间热力分布研究,分析人们的活动行为与鼓浪屿景观风貌特色空间的联系;随后,在旅居体验与行为叠加影响下,总结出人们对于鼓浪屿遗产地社区景观风貌的关注兴趣点和体验冲突点;最后提出基于旅居兴趣的鼓浪屿遗产地社区景观风貌管理建议,为今后鼓浪屿建设管理提供参考意见,对遗产地社区景观风貌管理有一定的借鉴意义。     

从“建筑博物馆”到“生态博物馆”——论乡土历史聚落遗产地保护观念和方法的演进

本文论述了乡土历史聚落遗产地保护方式从露天建筑博物馆到生态博物馆的演变过程,展现了遗产地保护观念的发展和深化：从静态到动态;从展示建筑遗产到展示人类活动：从保护建成环境到保护遗产地文化与自然因素共同构戍的背景;从展示实时性表演到维护遗产地活动的历时性;从社会精英策划耗资巨大的保护项目到遗产地居民民主管理并将遗产保护与社区发展相结合的遗产保护。     

FROM A PUBLIC RE-CREATION TO PRIVATE RECREATION: The Transformation of Public Space in South Street Seaport

ABSTRACT: This article documents the development process involved in transformating South Street Seaport, on the east side of Lower Manhattan, from an open-air museum and public space to a privately controlled and commercialized space. It criticizes the “Disneyfication” literature that has attempted to describe this type of transformation for its focus solely on the designs of spaces—and not on their social production. The article then describes the political and economic forces that have led to the production of spaces like South Street Seaport in American cities in the last 20 years. It concludes by discussing the nature and role of public spaces in democratic societies.     

Regime Politics and Service Delivery in the Cape Town Unicity Council Area

The study accounts for the local state conflicts between several political parties governing the city of Cape Town in South Africa’s Western Cape Province, and the resulting effect on service delivery. These conflicts take the form of shifting political alliances and differing agendas about governing the city. The emerging conflicts between these political parties, particularly the African National Congress, the Democratic Alliance and the Independent Democrats and the recent local regime changes in the city, have impacted negatively on service delivery. Using urban regime theory, it explores service delivery in the community of Parkwood Estate. In South Africa, while the politics of opposition between political parties has received much attention, especially at the national level, the role of these parties in service delivery at the local level has not received such consideration. With this in mind, this study contributes to an understanding of the association between local state politics and service delivery in Cape Town.     

基于产业类型的粤西硇洲岛海岛聚落景观研究

硇洲岛作为中国第一大火山岛,是中国南海生态景观和传统文化景观保留较好的岛屿。岛内传统聚落数量众多,对其进行保护和研究对可持续性岛屿景观规划具有重要意义。运用风景园林学、人文地理学、海洋地理学等多学科交叉的方法,通过田野调查和GIS对硇洲岛101个聚落进行落点,结合传统时期聚落的产业属性,分析海岛产业的开发时序。选取“滨海距离”“火山地质地貌”“岛屿土壤类型”“地下水资源”“岛礁空间分布”为敏感因子。探讨主要因子对聚落空间分布的机制,总结归纳出海岛聚落的景观格局特征。试图通过对硇洲岛传统聚落景观的分析,解析海岛先民是如何适应海岛恶劣的自然地理环境,发展适宜的海岛产业景观,并建立较为宜居的人居环境。     

Durban’s pursuit of economic development in the post-apartheid era

The city in South Africa has “been forced to engage in serious soul-searching about their role in a new political order while facing up to complex and dynamic global economic forces” (Hall and Robbins, 2002, p. 43)     

The physical environment in museums and its effects on visitors’ satisfaction

In this study, a comprehensive inquiry has been made into what effect the physical environment of museums has had upon visitors’ satisfaction. Thirty museums mainly located in Seoul, South Korea, and the vicinity were selected for this study. A total of 760 visitors were asked to complete a questionnaire. The data gathered from the questionnaire survey and by observation of the participants were analyzed by factor analysis, regression analysis and path analysis. The results are as follows: (1) Using factor analysis, the physical characteristics of the museum environment were categorized into three subgroups such as the exhibition environment, the ambient environment and museum size. (2) Among these factors, the exhibition environment was the main factor that had the biggest effect on satisfaction. (3) The ambient environment had an indirect effect on satisfaction, but it did not have a pronounced effect. (4) The size of the museum had a slight direct effect on satisfaction, but its effect was mainly on the mental and physical fatigue felt by the visitors.     

The management of greywater in the non-sewered areas of South Africa

The management of greywater in the non-sewered areas of South Africa has been identified as a key area of research owing to the fact that very little, if any, provision has been made for it. Without water-borne sanitation, the disposal of greywater becomes a problem that has the potential to create a host of environmental and health problems, and this is particularly evident in the high density informal settlements that surround the major South African cities. The main aim of this study was to understand the use and disposal of greywater in the non-sewered areas in South Africa, determine typical quantities and qualities, and develop a preliminary guide for its management, both in terms of reducing health and environmental risks as well as possibly providing benefits through controlled reuse.     

如何保护丽泊古城的原貌

丹麦的美丽古城——丽伯，是北欧最古老的城市。在公元700年以前，成为丹麦最大的港口城市，也是中古世纪最大的商埠。1855年成立了丽伯博物馆，该博物馆的主要任务是保护这座古城的原貌。对于丽伯古城的保护，市政府作出了很大的努力。当地居民化身博物馆职员，使这座城市更加生气勃勃。     

Searching for a state-of-the-art public space: city museums among archives and networks

The article focuses on innovations in city museums in recent years. By focusing on the user – as opposed to the collection – the changes in city museums have an influence on the statute of the museum, considerably altering its mission. Going so far as to build up databases and digital displays, the museum increasingly intersects its functions with those of an archive which (with particular regard to architectural materials) now proposes exhibitive forms of fruition. The most extreme consequences of this phenomenon is the online museum, with numerous peculiar aspects: it is flexible (its collection can grow without problems, and be presented in different forms), democratic, interactive and inexpensive, and it allows flows of information in several directions. The comparison with the contemporary city remains the fundamental, hinging element, as several intuitions have already shown in the past.     

Effects of vernacular architecture structure on urban sustainability case study: Qeshm Island,Iran

The architecture of Qeshm Island includes the specific architectural style of a warm and wet area, which previously had a functional use aimed to reach a sustainable architecture and development. However, few studiesontheidentification ofthecharacteristicsofvernacular architecture and their roles in island stability have been performed. Thus, to understand the vernacular architecture of the island as a sustainable pattern, we discussed it separately in three aspects, namely, urban fabric, one-based architecture, and architectural details. To address our study, a part of the old fabric of the city with its existing buildings (42 buildings of 70 years of age) was selected and evaluated in a qualitative study. Results showed that in the scale of the urban fabric, factors, such as the structures of the buildings, the frame of the neighborhood spaces, and in terms of the architectural details, factors, such as bars, thickness of the walls, and the openings, are among the vernacular features of the area, playing an important role in the stability of Qeshm Island. In general, studies showed that vernacular architecture of the island has focused on developing an orientation between the climate of the region and a good understanding of the construction.     

Learning from traditional built environment of Cyprus: Re-interpretation of the contextual values

Last century witnessed the tragic results of ethnic separations between Turkish and Greek Cypriots, which were the two main communities of Cyprus Island. Both communities; that used to live mixed together on the same geography, shared the same history, culture, lifestyle and moreover the future. Nowadays, the bi-communal efforts on the Island, encouraged by the international society, provide the opportunity to union and heal the traces of the traumatic division. The new century promises a rapid increase in the welfare of Cypriots parallel to the solution of the political dispute. The sudden change in economical structure can increase the threat on the unique traditional environment as a result of unplanned and inevitable developments for fulfilling the rising demands. For the sake of having a contemporary living milieu, the traditional environment as the common architectural heritage of the Island can be revitalized, besides developing new appropriate architectural solutions in the light of the natural and cultural context. The Island's housing tradition bears the opportunity to be learned from the tried and evolved architectural solutions. Evaluating these values parallel to today's discourse, sustainable identity can be achieved by emphasizing especially the locality. In brief, this study tries to define the appropriate design principles for the contemporary housing developments and finds the ways of sustaining existing unique traditional patterns.     

Evolving Local Economic Development Policy and Practice in South Africa with Special Reference to Smaller Urban Centres

Local economic development (LED) in South Africa has grown in significance since the 1994 democratic transition. This article examines the evolution of LED policy from 1995–2006 and specifically focuses upon the implications of the 2006 National Framework document. The 2006 LED Framework document is important as it represents the first national guidelines issued for LED in South Africa. The paper critically argues that a set of severe challenges faces LED in South African small towns and that LED policy needs to recognize these challenges and take on a specific focus on the needs of small towns.     

Shared Growth in Urban Tourism: Evidence from Soweto,South Africa

This paper addresses the under-researched theme of the role of small- and medium-sized enterprises in urban tourism. An analysis is undertaken of key constraints surrounding the potential of tourism small firms (or SMEs) to contribute toward shared growth in the urban developing world. Evidence is provided from recent research conducted on small enterprise development and urban tourism in post-apartheid Soweto, a locality with a rich political history that has come to symbolize the political freedom of the “new South Africa.”     

The Film Industry and South African Urban Change

Internationally there has been considerable discussion on the role that creative industries play as a strategy by which post-Fordist cities can revive stagnant urban economies. Among those sectors of the economy that form part of the creative industries, the filming sector counts as one. On the whole, these debates have been conducted with reference to the post-industrial cities of the north. Little attention has been placed on the role of the filming sector in the developing south generally, its spatial distribution, and its relationship to other economic and social geographies in those urban places. The paper provides a spatial analysis of the filming industry in urban South Africa and relates it to general economic and social geographies in two South African cities that have identified the filming industry as a key development strategy. In addition, an agenda for future research, in particular pertaining to urban South Africa is outlined. It is concluded that there is a broader urban planning and geography project at hand. Questions need to be asked about how the filming industry interacts with other government programmes and the ongoing transformation of physical and symbolic spaces in urban South Africa.     

(W)Escaping the Challenges of the City: a Critique of Cape Town’s Proposed Satellite Town

Much of the current planning discourse has come to reject master planned ‘new cities’ as both unrealistic and undesirable. However, with growing urbanisation challenges in the Global South, master planned cities, suburbs and communities have come back on the agenda driven by both public and private interests. This paper explores the WesCape Development (WD), a proposed satellite suburb to be located north-west of Cape Town, South Africa. Situating the WD in a longer lineage of utopian and new city planning approaches, I argue that the proposal is deeply flawed. Rather than being the solution to the urban ills facing Cape Town, it is an ‘anti-urban’ strategy which supports suburbanisation and assumes a particular and problematic urban growth scenario. It relies on ‘environmentally deterministic’ assumptions and depoliticised and deinstitutionalised designs. Ultimately, it tries to escape, rather than confront, the operational, political and social challenges of the city leading to the devaluation of planning instruments and citizenship engagement. The WD highlights the importance and power of radical and utopian thinking as well as the necessity of grounding and situating these impulses in the specificities and complexities of the city.     

Urban Volunteer Tourism: Orphanages in Johannesburg

Volunteer tourism is one of the most vibrant forms of alternative tourism and a particular focus in Africa. Despite a growing stream of international volunteer tourists, African scholarship is undeveloped. South Africa offers the largest range of different volunteer tourism opportunities in Africa which includes work in community welfare projects such as orphanages. This research opens up debates around urban volunteer tourism in South Africa. The investigation is a case study of international volunteer tourists at orphanages in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city. The aim was to understand the volunteer tourism channel to Johannesburg and reflect upon the impacts of this controversial form of volunteer tourism. The findings point to the strongly positive benefits of these volunteers for the orphanages and the children in Johannesburg. Among possible explanations is that ‘place matters’ and that volunteers choosing to work in the orphanages of South Africa’s business capital, a city that has a fearful reputation in respect of crime and safety of visitors, are committed to ‘making a difference’ in their volunteer work.     

More than twenty years after the repeal of the Group Areas Act: housing, spatial planning and urban development in post-apartheid South Africa

More than twenty years after the repeal of the Group Areas Act, South Africa is facing a number of challenges with regards to housing, spatial planning and urban development. Government institutions, scholars, NGO’s and local communities have been looking for innovative ways to improve the housing conditions of all South Africans. With this special issue, we aim to demonstrate that international insights cannot only be relevant to understand and enrich South African cases, but that an in-depth analysis of the South African experiments can also be meaningful for academic analyses and political decisions in other parts of the world. In order to stimulate such a cross-fertilization, this article will briefly summarize the current situation in South Africa in the public housing sector, the private housing sector and the self-help approach. We will also introduce the eight papers of this special issue.